From Wikipedia

Timothy John Russert, Jr. (May 7, 1950 – June 13, 2008)^[1] was an American journalist who hosted NBC‘s Meet the Press. He was NBC News‘ Washington Bureau Chief and hosted a weekly interview program on MSNBC Tim Russert. He was a frequent correspondent and guest on NBC’s The Today Show and Hardball. He co-hosted the network’s presidential Election Night coverage and presented the polling results of the NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey on the NBC Nightly News. Russert collapsed and died at his office in Washington on June 13, 2008.^[2]

A year after Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax failed his last saving throw, his partner in the effort Dave Arneson has followed him into the dungeon of death.  May you shake your bag of dice, drink whatever is before you in a single gulp, and roll Dave into the great beyond.

“…To the last, I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart, I stab at thee; for hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.”

Yes, I know it is from Moby Dick, but like Shakespeare it is often best heard in when placed in science fiction.

Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83

13 minutes ago

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A spokeswoman for screen legend Paul Newman says the actor has died at age 83.

Spokeswoman Marni Tomljanovic says Newman died Friday of cancer. No other details were immediately available.

Obituary: Paul Newman (1925 – 2008) « Fataculture

A confirmed Awards Daily report says that one of Hollywood’s true icons in every sense of the word who had been fighting a losing battle to cancer for a while now, Paul Newman, has finally lost the fight at the age of 83. This is the most devastating news ever, even though it has been a long time coming, it is still a huge blow for his family, friends, his enormous amount of fans and film lovers who idolise him and his unsurpassed contribution to the world of film, from his all time greats that I regard highly, “Cool Hand Luke,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Rachel, Rachel,” “Hud,” “The Verdict,” “The Hustler” and even “The Sting,” and the official end of an era when Hollywood was at its peak.

i know we are all in shock and saddened, but the above blogger needs to stop, take a breath and insert period pauses.

Paul Newman dies at 83 – updated

Italian websites www.corriere.it and www.repubblica.it – respectively from noted newspapers Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica – are currently reporting the death of actor Paul Newman.

Paul Newman, 1925-2008 – Mad About Movies – The Oregonian – OregonLive.com

Fast Eddie Felson. Hud Bannon. Cool Hand Luke. Butch Cassidy. The guy in the race car. The guy on the salad dressing bottle. The blue-eyed dreamboat. The committed public citizen. The husband of a half-century. The father of six.

According to press releases from his his charitable organizations, Newman’s Own Foundation and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, Paul Newman died Friday at age 83 at his long-time home in Westport, Connecticut, and with his passing, more has been lost than just a good and fine man.

This was a good tribute and written by someone who remembers their English class lessons.

Paul Newman: Hollywood Legend, Star Of Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid Dies Aged, 83 | Home | Sky News

Spokeswoman Marni Tomljanovic said Newman died yesterday.

Newman finished chemotherapy treatment for cancer in August and it was widely reported in the US that he had only weeks to live.

In June this year, a neighbour and business partner said the actor told him about the disease the previous year.

In May, Newman pulled out of directing John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men for unspecified health reasons.

The actor’s representative Toni Howard had previously dismissed the cancer claims as simply “not true”.

Newman retired from acting in 2006 after a 50-year career that included Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1971), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963) and Cool Hand Luke (1967).

Newman was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning best actor for his role in The Color Of Money in 1986.

This is a moment of personal sadness too, but something many of us who follow Hollywood have seen coming for a long time. it looks to be a crappy Saturday weatherwise in many parts of the country, so I suggest taking the afternoon or this evening to sit back and relax with any number of great Paul Newman films. I have Butch and Sundance lined up for my afternoon.

His greatest moment in film in my opinion is without a doubt Tootsie. Even twenty six years later, the film still stands. Not only is the direction wonderful, but Sydney’s role as Dustin Hoffman’s agent was fabulously played. Not only is the movie great, but without Hoffman in drag could we have ever accepted Bobby De Niro as Captain Shakespeare.

He never been one of my favorites, but his accomplishments deserve every firm honor we’ve paid him. There may be a mountain of film greats, but without Sydney Pollack, it has become a little colder.

Though most of you don’t know the Edward Lorenz from Victor Lazlo he is just as much a figure in many of our modern movies and fiction. Edward Lorenz is now the late father of Chaos Theory, which is also better known to most of the world as the butterfly effect. it is hard to say how the 90 year olds death will spiral out into our world, but his life has changed many of us more than we know.

My first exposure to chaos theory came from the same source as many of had too, Jurassic Park. I remember getting the novel at Walden books when I was 16 and devouring it in a single sitting. I quickly found Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder through an insightful teacher’s pushing and nudging. Although the story came out a decade before Lorenz name the theory the principal is there. In a lesser way you could say I even experienced it before Jurassic Park, though in a very different way, from The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Since then for me I have come to see Chaos Theory and The Butterfly Effect in a great many places. You can see it almost every Alternate History series from Eric Flint’s 1632 to most of Harry Turtledove’s work, especially in the Crosstime Series.

My personal favorite single book giving credit to the Butterfly Effect is S.M. Stirling’s Conquistador, in which which Alexander lived to a ripe old age and the World timeline played out very differently. My Favorite Series dealing with the subject is a toss up between Harry Harrison’s Hammer and Anvil in which the Vikings fair a lot better against England and the Church from the beginning. The other favorite here is Robert j Sawyers, Neanderthal Parallax in which a world where the Neanderthal survive and the humans don’t, discovers our world where it is just the opposite. This trilogy is so much more than just Chaos theory and one I whole heartedly even recommend to people say they don’t like science fiction.

The world has lost a brilliant thinker and pop culture has lost a behind the scenes icon. So in his honor pick up a book and read a little for fun to see where that little activity might take you. Please share what your life would have been without this lovely little theory that states small things over time produce big changes. For the record at the end of October I will have another little thing to spin my life in unforeseen directions.

Gary has been active in the RPG industry since the beginning and he will be greatly missed. Let us all take a moment to hold our breath, grind the die in our hand, and make one simultaneous roll to open the gates of the netherworld announcing as loudly as possible his passing into the parted but not forgotten realms of gaming history.